2011 F1 season

Fernando Alonso has set his sights on finishing second in the drivers’ championship.

Speaking ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix he said: “Even if it?óÔé¼Ôäós true we are no longer even mathematically in the hunt for the drivers?óÔé¼Ôäó title, there are still plenty of reasons to retain our motivation to tackle these last five races with the right attitude.

“First of all there?óÔé¼Ôäós second place in the drivers?óÔé¼Ôäó table. Given how the season has gone so far, with [Sebastian] Vettel totally dominant, failing to get on the podium only once, being runner-up would really be a great result for me and for the team.

“There are four of us in the running, as I am up against [Mark] Webber and the two McLaren guys and I reckon we will have to wait until Interlagos to find out who it will go to.”

Alonso has won once before at Suzuka in 2006 – though it came at the expense of his current team.

He said: “I?óÔé¼Ôäóve won the Japanese Grand Prix twice; once at Fuji and once here at Suzuka, the latter being the best of the two, but I?óÔé¼Ôäóm sure no one in my current team would agree with that.

“I can understand that, because I can appreciate how disappointed they must have been when Michael [Schumacher] had to retire while leading ahead of me.

“It?óÔé¼Ôäós always bad to see a car stop with a failure. In fact, the same thing happened to me a few weeks earlier in Monza: Formula 1 can be a cruel sport at times.”